"If he weakly showed the least disposition to hear it, Captain Porter, in a loud sonorous voice, gave him every word of it" — Book 1, chap. ii. Second illustration for Forster's Life of Charles Dickens in the twenty-second volume of the Household Edition of the Works of Charles Dickens, illustrated by Fred Barnard (1879). Composite woodblock engraving by the Dalziels, 10.7 cm by 13.9 cm. (4 ¼ by 5 ½ inches), page 1, framed. [Click on the image to enlarge it.]
Passage Illustrated: In The Marshalsea Debtors' Prison
"I mention the circumstance because it illustrates, to me, my early interest in observing people. When I went to the Marshalsea of a night, I was always delighted to hear from my mother what she knew about the histories of the different debtors in the prison; and when I heard of this approaching ceremony, I was so anxious to see them all come in, one after another (though I knew the greater part of them already, to speak to, and they me), that I got leave of absence on purpose, and established myself in a corner, near the petition. It was stretched out, I recollect, on a great ironing-board, under the window, which in another part of the room made a bedstead at night. The internal regulations of the place, for cleanliness and order, and for the government of a common room in the ale-house, where hot water and some means of cooking, and a good fire, were provided for all who paid a very small subscription, were excellently administered by a governing committee of debtors, of which my father was chairman for the time being. As many of the principal officers of this body as could be got into the small room without filling it up, supported him, in front of the petition; and my old friend Captain Porter (who had washed himself, to do honour to so solemn an occasion) stationed himself close to it, to read it to all who were unacquainted with its contents. The door was then thrown open, and they began to come in, in a long file; several waiting on the landing outside, while one entered, affixed his signature, and went out. To everybody in succession, Captain Porter said, 'Would you like to hear it read?' If he weakly showed the least disposition to hear it, Captain Porter, in a loud sonorous voice, gave him every word of it. I remember a certain luscious roll he gave to such words as 'Majesty — gracious Majesty — your gracious Majesty's unfortunate subjects — your Majesty's well-known munificence,' — as if the words were something real in his mouth, and delicious to taste; my poor father meanwhile listening with a little of an author's vanity, and contemplating (not severely) the spikes on the opposite wall. Whatever was comical in this scene, and whatever was pathetic, I sincerely believe I perceived in my corner, whether I demonstrated or not, quite as well as I should perceive it now. I made out my own little character and story for every man who put his name to the sheet of paper. I might be able to do that now, more truly: not more earnestly, or with a closer interest. Their different peculiarities of dress, of face, of gait, of manner, were written indelibly upon my memory. I would rather have seen it than the best play ever played; and I thought about it afterwards, over the pots of paste-blacking, often and often. When I looked, with my mind's eye, into the Fleet prison during Mr. Pickwick's incarceration, I wonder whether half a dozen men were wanting from the Marshalsea crowd that came filing in again, to the sound of Captain Porter's voice!" [Book One, Chapter Two, "Hard Experiences in Boyhood. 1822-1824," 15]
Commentary: Biographical and Literary Associations
What remained of the Marshalsea in 1887 (Plate IV
of J. P.
Emslie's Topographical Record of London.
Having been unable to secure his release from the Marshalsea through the timely inheritance of "some hundreds" of pounds, John Dickens provides a bounty to his fellow prisoners "to drink his majesty's health on his majesty's forthcoming birthday" 22), the reigning monarch at this point being George the Fourth (on the throne from 1820 through 1830). The leader of the inmates who sign the petition in the Dickens's cell is a Captain Porter. The illustration makes a number of biographical and literary connections: John Dickens with debtor Samuel Pickwick in The Pickwick Papers and Charles Dickens as a boy with young David Copperfield, working on labels in the London warehouse of Murdstone and Grinby. We have already met Captain Porter upon John Dickens's arrival in the Marshalsea, so that Barnard had a description with which to work:
"Captain Porter lent the knife and fork, with his compliments in return. There was a very dirty lady in his little room; and two wan girls, his daughters, with shock heads of hair. I thought I should not have liked to borrow Captain Porter's comb. The captain himself was in the last extremity of shabbiness; and if I could draw at all, I would draw an accurate portrait of the old, old, brown great-coat he wore, with no other coat below it. His whiskers were large. I saw his bed rolled up in a corner; and what plates, and dishes, and pots he had, on a shelf; and I knew (God knows how) that the two girls with the shock heads were Captain Porter's natural children, and that the dirty lady was not married to Captain P. My timid, wondering station on his threshold was not occupied more than a couple of minutes, I dare say; but I came down again to the room below with all this as surely in my knowledge as the knife and fork were in my hand." [Book One, Chapter II, "Hard Experiences in Boyhood, 1822-1824," 15]
Related Material
- Debtors in Charles Dickens's Life and Work
- Material Culture as Society Informant: Prisons in Charles Dickens's Little Dorrit
Scanned images and text by Philip V. Allingham. [You may use these images without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the person who scanned the images, and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]
Bibliography
Ackroyd, Peter. Dickens: A Biography. London: Sinclair-Stevenson, 1990.
Barnard, Fred, et al. Scenes and Characters from the Works of Charles Dickens; being eight hundred and sixty-six drawings by Fred Barnard, Hablot K. Browne (Phiz), J. Mahoney [and others] printed from the original woodblocks engraved for "The Household Edition". London: Chapman & Hall, 1908. Page 562.
Forster, John. The Life of Charles Dickens. London: Chapman & Hall, 1872 and 1874. 3 vols.
Forster, John. The Life of Charles Dickens. Illustrated by Fred Barnard. The Household Edition. 22 vols. London: Chapman & Hall, 1879. Vol. XXII.
Illustrated topographical record of London. Changes and demolitions, 1880-[1890] ... [Being drawings by J. P. Emslie, with comments by the artist, and historical notes by Philip Norman], series 2. Plate 4. Hathi Trust. Contributed by the University of Michigan. Web. 9 September 2021.
Litvack, Leon. "Prisons and Penal Transportation." Oxford Reader's Companion to Dickens. Ed. Paul Schlicke. Oxford: Oxford U. P., 1999. Pp. 465-467.
Created 1 September 2009 Last modified 5 January 2025